Passos, Fabiana; Uggetti, Enrica; Carrère, Hélène; Ferrer, Ivet

Algal Biomass: Physical Pretreatments | Algal Biomass: Physical Pretreatments : Chapter 11

2015

Passos, Fabiana | Uggetti, Enrica | Carrère, Hélène | Ferrer, Ivet

This chapter gives an overview of physical pretreatments applied for enhancing microalgae biofuel production. It is divided into five sections: (1) microalgal biomass, (2) applications, (3) potential biofuels, (4) pretreatments and (5) energy and environmental assessment. First, a general description on microalgae characteristics, structure and classification is given. Secondly, the main microalgae applications are described, with focus on microalgae biofuels: biodiesel, biogas, biohydrogen and bioethanol. Attention is focused on physical pretreatments for improving microalgae biofuels production, including thermal pretreatments (low temperature, high temperature and high temperature with steam explosion) and mechanical pretreatments (ultrasound, microwave, bead mill and high-pressure homogenizer). Finally, energy and environmental aspects for evaluating full-scale viability are addressed.

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